Our wedding cake
Jay and I were married on September 23rd, 2018 at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. The ceremony was held at the Cherry Esplanade and we were surrounded by loved ones, friends and of course our dogs, Peanut and Coco Bean. We were officially a family of four and wanted to embrace that on our cake. The customs cake toppers were inspired by the vast collection of Funko Pop figurines that Jay has collected over the years. It includes almost every single Marvel Cinematic Universe character, some Power Rangers, Star Wars figures, and NFL athletes. These custom toppers were created by a talented local NYC artist and our figures are wearing matching outfits from our big day, Jay’s custom navy tuxedo and my lace wedding gown. They were placed around the three-tier graham cracker vanilla cake with an espresso-flavored filling covered with a vanilla buttercream frosting. This wedding cake recipe is combining both flavors to make the perfect match. We saved the top tier for our first anniversary, and ate it side by side with the cake from this recipe.
Honey Graham Cracker Cake
Prep time: 15 minutes | Total time: 1 hour
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
1/2 cup cake flour*
1 1/2 cups honey graham crackers crumbs (about 12 whole graham crackers)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
4 ounces unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole milk
Special equipment:
2 8-inch round cake pans
parchment paper
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottoms and sides of two 8-inch round cake pans and lined with parchment paper rounds.
Whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
Beat the butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, then beat in the vanilla until combined.
Alternate folding the flour mixture and milk into the batter with a spatula, adding the flour in 3 additions and the milk in 2, starting and ending with the flour, until just smooth. Add the sprinkles and fold 3 or 4 times until just blended to prevent the colors from bleeding too much. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
Bake the cakes on the same oven rack, rotating the pans about halfway if they seem to be browning unevenly, until golden on top and starts to pull from the sides of the pan, about 25 minutes.
Let cool in the pans about 10 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks and let cool completely. Peel parchment from the bottoms.
Place 1 cake layer right-side up on a cake plate or stand, and spread with 1 cup of the frosting. Top with the second cake layer. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting.
Chocolate espresso frosting
Prep time: 15 minutes | Total time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4 cups
Ingredients:
4 ounces unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), softened
3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder**
1/8 teaspoon fine salt
4 cups confectioners 10X sugar*
2 tablespoons instant espresso
3/4 cup cold heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Special equipment:
electric hand mixer
Instructions:
In a large bowl, add butter, cocoa powder, and salt. Beat with the electric hand mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Turn the mixer off and add the confectioners' sugar and instant espresso. Continue to beat on low until the confectioners' sugar and instant espresso is completely combined with the butter and cocoa powder mixture.
Increase the speed to high and continue beat until combined, about 3-5 minutes. The mixture will may look dry. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beaters to make sure all is combined.
Turn the mixer to medium speed and add half the heavy cream, once combined with the mixture, add the remaining half. Add the vanilla and continue beat until the frosting until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Color of frosting will be lighter due to the air being whipped in.
Cook’s Note
*When measuring flour and confectioner’s 10X sugar, spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level off the excess.
**Regular cocoa is intense and full flavored; it's also somewhat acidic. Dutch-processed cocoa is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acidity. The treatment of Dutch processed cocoa powder is smoother. It is usually darker in color compared to regular cocoa powder.
KITCHEN HACK: How to decorate with a spoon
While the frosting is still soft, place the back of the spoon against the cake and swipe back and forth to create peaks and valleys in the frosting all over the cake. Chill cake in the refrigerator until frosting is a little firm, about 15 minutes.